Archive for December, 2012

2012 has been a wonderful year in so many ways. My blog has grown nice and steadily, and I’ve managed to keep to my target of 8 posts a month.

I’ve also made lots of friends through a mutual love of good food, who have shared my journey, and I’ve been able to be inspired and share in their food exploits.

I’d just like to say thank you for reading my witterings, and hope you stay happy and well for 2013. I’ve seen a few people in the blogosphere share their favourite posts from the previous year, and I hope you’ll indulge me in doing the same.

January

Best Bread Recipe

If you take just one thing from my recipes, please have a go at using this recipe to make your own bread in the New Year, it really is easier than you think to make beautiful bread.

February

Afternoon Smoked Mutton Shoulder

It may have escaped you that I like to cook large slabs of meat 😉 well this beast of a mutton shoulder tasted wonderful, and goes to show that with the right cooking even the toughest cuts can turn into something delicious.

March

Smoked Morcilla and Chorizo Fabada

A warming taste of Spanish cooking, with some lovely ingredients available from one of Devons growing Farmers Markets.

April

Out of this worlds Spider Crab

I’ve been given a great opportunity this year to share some of my recipes with the Readers of Food Mag, the South Wests favourite Food and Drink magazine, trying to encourage people to try something different on the BBQ over the year, and usually something extravagant and fun, these Spider Crabs really got people interested, and I know there’s a few converts out there to Spider Crab.

May

Hosta shoots wrapped in proscuitto

I love bringing new and exciting ingredients from the garden into the kitchen, these Hosta shoots were a revelation. This year I’m planning on growing even more, not just for their beautiful leaves, but to enjoy cooking with. Consider planting them early this spring to try for yourself.

June

Mackerel grilled over hot coals.

Things really start hotting up in June for most people the BBQ season is in full swing, as a reminder that cooking outdoors is often at its best with simple fresh food, these mackerel were a real taste of summer, long for the warm summer evenings of 2013. (As long as the summer isn’t as wet as last years)

July

Sourdough Pizza

We really made good use of my homemade Pizza Oven this year in spite of the rain, and had some really good pizza parties. Here was my wonderful sourdough pizza, just about the best I made, here’s to more in 2013.

August

CountryWoodSmoke Backyard BBQ Pop Up

Good food, lovely foodie friends, a few drinks, what more could you ask for, this was the grand opening of my outdoor dining area, watch out this year for more Backyard BBQ’s, I plan on a couple of events for people who appreciate good smoky food in 2013, watch this space.

September

Sticky chilli jam glazed crab claws and prawns.

I am very fortunate with my work being in the north of Scotland that I get to play with wonderful ingredients from both ends of the U.K. This dish was inspired by wonderful ingredients sourced in Aberdeenshire.

October

Dirty Cote de Boeuf

These succulent dirty steaks were part of the recipes for my new book Smoky & the Wood Pit. such a great way to cook a steak, straight onto the coals, caveman style. If you’d like to see how I cooked them, my first video is on youtube here.

Let me know if you’d like to see more videos in 2013.

November

Willow basket hot smoked side of salmon.

I was fortunate to be given these fish shaped willow baskets by a neighbour, and they just made the most amazing smoking baskets for sides of salmon, they look beautiful too.

December

Turkey, cranberry and black pudding parcels

Another exciting way of cooking with these wood papers, made for some festive meaty parcels.

I hope you have enjoyed all of the recipes and ideas here on CountryWoodSmoke. There will be lots more to come in 2013.

My big plan for the next year is to do more Food Photography for the BBQ/Outdoor Cooking market, and to continue to work with local producers to help create stunning images of their food, so feel free to contact me if you need any Food Photography for websites/brochures/newsletters.

A couple of posts ago, I eluded to some good news, well i’m really chuffed to announce my first book, available to those of you with an iPad initially at Smoky & The Wood Pit, for the princely sum of £1.99 you will have access to 20 of my recipes, some popular classics, and some new and exciting and only available there.

This post has long been remiss, back in the now feeling long distant summer, I was given some intriguing wood paper to cook food in from the lovely people at The Roasting Plank Company to have a play with and see what I came up with, I really wanted to do something special with the beech wood paper, and until now the recipe had eluded me, but Christmas is a time for presents…isn’t it??

So after soaking the wood paper for a couple of hours, I made up a couple of lovely parcels using a turkey breast escalope, a slice of bury black pudding crumbled into the middle and a tablespoon of cranberry sauce to sweeten things up. I then rolled the escalope up and wrapped with smoked streaky bacon, before wrapping in the wood paper and securing with a bow using butchers string.

Cook on a medium hot BBQ indirectly for 20-30 mintutes with the lid on. Or if it’s abit cold then place on a hot griddle for 5 minutes each side, to start the wood smoking a little, and then pop into a preheated oven to 200degC for 15-20 minutes until cooked through and the bacon becomes crisp.

The turkey stays lovely and moist, and picks up a lovely sweet smoky taste from the wood paper.

You could vary this recipe, with chicken breast, blue cheese, bbq sauce, fish or vegetables, the choice is yours, there’s lots of great ideas on the roasting plank companies site.

On a recent visit to family in the Cotswolds we decided to head to Chipping Sodbury, which was close for some provisions, knowing that “The Fabulous Baker Brothers” Tom and Henry Herbert had their shops here, naturally we headed straight for here, but it was great to see other great shops in this delightful town.

I was very impressed with the range of lovely goodies on offer in both the butchery and bakery, the butchery had well aged meat and game, was well presented and looked very tempting, I bought some stunning Tolouse sausages, which were well flavoured with herbs and garlic and made with quality pork, and a Scotch Egg, that although looked good I was a little disappointed with to be honest, the egg was cooked perfectly, but I found the sausagemeat a bit on the dry side and the crumb coating had parted company with the sausagemeat.

In the bakery we were tempted by a beautiful French style loaf, some treacle tarts, and a lardy cake (which didn’t make it back far enough for the photo), the loaf was fantastic, with a crisp crust and soft crumb and was perfect for a sausage sandwich using the tolouse sausages and lashings of mustard. The treacle tarts were lovely and moist without being too sweet, and the lardy cake was stunning, it took me back to how these cakes used to be when I was a child and before the health police ruined them.

A real treat, and certainly worth paying a visit if you’re in the area.

At this time of year, we tend to put a lot of miles in, visiting relatives and friends, and on a recent trip we stumbled upon the Route 303 diner near Honiton along the A303. I was pretty excited as it promised ribs, grills and steaks….my kind of food.

The interior is an homage to all things American and is a lot of fun, the service was excellent and we were warmly welcomed.

I realised pretty quickly though that it was more diner than pit grill, so we went for a quick meal of fried chicken, which was great value and a huge portion of moist freshly cooked chicken pieces, some BBQ wings, nachos, calamari and fries, all of which were well cooked and tasty.

All in all a fun enjoyable meal, and something a bit different to the usual Little Chefs while on the road. The only way to improve it would be to get a smoker in to smoke up some BBQ classics.

As much as I love this time of year, and this is certainly not a bah humbug post, I find I need to pace my excesses a little to make sure I don’t overdo it too often.

This is a lovely way of feeling a little healthier and slightly less guilty, Lemon Sole is a bycatch so satisfies it’s place as a “good” fish we can enjoy without guilt, and is perfectly in season now. It is also damn tasty and best cooked simply.

I sliced a lemon into rounds on the bottom of a shallow baking tray, dotted with butter and laid the fish on top, I had slashed the skin to make sure the fish cooked through. I popped a couple of small knobs of butter on top of the fish and a sprinkle of salt and pepper to season.

I cooked in a hot oven 220degC for 10 minutes until just cooked and the skin starting to bubble and brown. I spooned on the juices from the bottom of the tray over the fish and served with lemon and olive oil mash, and some lovely early sprouting broccoli.

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"There is something quietly civilizing about sharing a meal with other people. The simple act of making someone something to eat, even a bowl of soup or a loaf of bread, has a many-layered meaning. It suggests an act of protection and caring, of generosity and intimacy. It is in itself a sign of respect."
Nigel Slater